Taming of the Beast (Scandalous Affairs #2) - Christi Caldwell Page 0,54

discuss.

Instead, a carrot had been dangled, and the plot thickened enough to deepen not only Faye Poplar’s fascination, but also her commitment to detailing the crimes she wished.

As if Tynan had the damned time for any of this.

“Though in truth, given you’re out of work and out of luck in terms of finding new work, you’ve got all the time in the world,” he mumbled to himself as he jammed his key into the back lock and let himself inside.

He froze.

Inside his very crowded kitchen.

Oh, bloody hell. What now?

“Ahem.” Finn stepped forward. “I can explain.”

“I trust you can,” Tynan muttered, pushing the door shut with the bottom of his boot. It resonated with a noisy click. At some point while he’d been off gallivanting with Faye, it appeared the children under this roof had multiplied. Finn, Jack, and John had been joined by three others.

Shrugging out of his cloak, Tynan hung it along the hook on the back of the door.

Smaller and younger and more waiflike than the other boys present, Lawrence, Kevin, and Liam had been among the youngest Tynan had ever employed. And just like the other boys who’d arrived prior, they each ducked their heads, properly contrite.

I don’t have time for this.

Lawrence was the first to break the impasse. He doffed his threadbare cap and walked to meet Tynan where he stood. “Came back to work for ye, we did, sir.”

If Tynan had been capable of laughing, this would have been the moment that merited it. They’d come to him for work. Just as they’d done in the past, and yet, everything had changed. Then, he’d been able to provide them the meaningful existence they sought.

“I cannot help you,” he said, getting to the heart of it. He looked around the gathering. “Any of you.” He directed that at the most loyal of that group, Finn. Tynan tugged off his damp leather gloves.

The assembly of boys all wore stricken expressions.

But then, Finn found himself. He puffed his chest out. “Don’t believe that, sir. Ye can do anything.”

As one, all the boys nodded.

He snorted and headed over to the fireplace. “If I could do anything, then I wouldn’t have lost my assignment and been thrown into a prison cell now, would I?” he drawled, tossing his gloves atop the mantel to dry.

There came a series of murmurings, and then Finn brightened.

“Yea, but got yerself out, ye did. Who else can say they did that?”

This time, a louder murmur went up.

He’d not point out that a lot of men and women could. With money and, more important, connections, a person could do anything.

Kevin scratched his small brow. “How did ye get out of prison?”

Tynan’s cheeks went hot. “That is neither here nor there,” he said.

“A fancy lady,” Finn explained anyway, on his behalf.

All the boys swayed forward over their feet, like a slow-moving wave.

“Ye got yerself a fancy lady?” Lawrence asked, his eyes rounded in wide-eyed wonderment.

Tynan started to speak, but Finn interrupted to answer for him again.

“A real fine one, too.”

Tynan jammed his fingertips into his temples hard. Splendid. This surely marked his final descent into absolute and total failure.

“She has candy and a friend that she brings by,” Finn was saying.

This was really enough. “I do not have myself a fancy lady.” He paused. “I don’t have myself any lady. I know better than that.”

“Yes, he does,” Finn piped in, seeing to take that as the window for his continued defense. “Kept us alive, gave us shelter and work…” Finn’s words were met with more of those little, unevenly matched nods. And then, as if with each word, his confidence in Tynan and his own circumstances grew, the little boy brought his shoulders back. “Why, there’s nothing ye canna do, sir.”

There was nothing he couldn’t do?

In this moment in his life, there was nothing Tynan could do. It was like he’d been transformed into the same pathetic, powerless child he’d once been, reliant upon an unforgiving world. Why, he couldn’t even control the damned situation with a high-born English lady.

The frustration that he’d not given in to since his meeting with Lord Lothian came to a head. “I don’t have my role as warden,” he exclaimed. “I was replaced, and Hinton is now in charge, and there is no going back to the post, and there is no work for any of you because of it. Nothing. None. Not a single damned assignment I can hire you for.” The echo of his shout hung in the kitchen